Bus Be Best Way to Beach

We celebrate the return of our Bus to the Beach Memorial weekend. Last year, in part to our Pirates on the Bus project, ridership increased by 90%. There are still empty seats on nearly every run.

Schedule and route map - can be viewed on the CARTA website.

Right- Bus Pirate Day at the beach, June 2023

Isle of Pirates Day 2024 will be Saturday, July 13. Read the details and sign up on Facebook. 

Service Begins with a Boom- The Beach Reach Shuttle began running Memorial Weekend and carried twice as many passengers as it did on the same weekend a year ago. All available parking on the Isle of Palms was evidently occupied for most of the weekend. Many people drove out to the beach, searched for parking, failed to find any and ended up driving back to the mainland an hour or more later, never having seen the beach. Some found our bus and some, with disappointed children, gave up and returned home. If you have to search for parking the bus will always be faster. Your kids won't be bored in the car. They'll be having the adventure of a trip on the bus. 

#40 Mount Pleasant Bus connects the Beach  Reach Shuttle to the rest of the CARTA system, leaving the Mary Street Transit Center downtown once an hour where it connects to eight other bus routes running to other parts of downtown, North Charleston, West Ashley and James Island. Find a link to maps of this route on the Ride Carta fixed routes page. 

Pirates vs. Barbie/Kenergy- Our pirates will return to the beach this summer, probably on July 4, but this year they'll have rivals, the crowd from Barbieland, ready to beach under the leadership of Ken and the living doll herself. Doing something like this on a major holiday is always a space shot. If you would like to help, let us know. It's pink vs. black, so choose  your clothing to show your sympathies. The pirate crew seems pretty committed, so we'll need the Barbies and the Bros to come of the bench and out to the beach. We'll be burying treasure on the beach, doing some pirate games with the public. Ken and his friends will "beach." Pirates will challenge the Island's rum supply again while the folks from Barbie Land have specialty cocktails of their own. The bartenders of IOP have never failed us yet and the bus assures a safe trip home for everyone. 

We may also have another bus to the  beach party at Container Bar on the #20 Route downtown. Last year's Pirate Party at Container Bar was a blast with sword fights, drama and  an exceptional effort from the food truck and the bar, 

Free Fair, Free Parking, Free Beach- Free parking is available near the stop in Mt. Pleasant Town Center on Market Center drive. However you can also take the #40 Mt. Pleasant bus from the Mary Street Transit Center in downtown Charleston for regular fare. The schedules for the beach reach shuttle and #40 are synchronized so you shouldn't have a wait at Mt. Pleasant Town Center. 

Electronic Wayfinding- The Beach Reach Shuttle is represented on the Transit App which will allow you to track it's location and get ETAs in real time. You can also use the Transit App and Google Maps / Transit to plan your transit trip to the beach from anywhere in the Lowcountry which has transit service, however since the shuttle only works on Summer weekends and holidays these services will report no service to IOP unless you have set the time and date for your trip when the service is running. Here is a Google Maps trip plan for Memorial Day from downtown Charleston to the beach.   You should download the transit app now if you don't already have it on your phone. 

left - Pitching our banner at the entrance to folly beach on Memorial weekend, 2018

Your Tax Dollars at Work- The shuttle is free thanks to contributions from the Tourism Tax funds of the City of Isle of Palms and Town of Mt. Pleasant. We've encouraged the support of IOP by awarding them the Key to the Sea, which resides in a wooden case at IOP City Hall. It's companion key was tossed into the waves last year to open the ocean and celebrate the restart of service on a cold, wet memorial day. 

You Have a Place at the Beach- The shuttle lets you off at the Charleston County Park on the front beach IOP. Since you don't have to pay for parking, use of the park is also free. That includes indoor, flush toilets in their air conditioned building, outdoor showers and changing rooms. 

IOP has City Bathrooms and Showers- In the middle of the commercial strip, the City of the Isle of Palms maintains it's own free shower and toilet facility. It's closer to many locations if you decide to beach west of the pier. 

Veteran Visits- If you are a veteran or active duty military, the VFW Post on the Coast will welcome you to their extraordinary beachfront location. Located next to the Windjammer, up a small walkway you'll find veterans enjoying a wonderful beachfront deck with a bonus view of the adjacent Windjammer stage where there is often music. The Post has toilets, a bar and sometimes food. There are events there throughout the summer. The VFW has been a strong supporter of the Beach Reach Shuttle since their members don't have to look for parking. 

IOP Front Beach Businesses- IOP has a wonderful, small beachfront business district with places to eat and shop. Let them know that you came on the bus since it's their tourism taxes helping pay for it. Here is a list of IOP restaurants. The ones near the bus stop are in the center of the island. 

Image right- A Bus Driver drink concocted by Coconut Joes on IOP as part of our July 2015 March to the Sea to help return Transit to the Atlantic. Has gold rum, red cherry and green lime (they ran out of limes that day) for the colors of the Best Friend train. 

Wonderful Wait- On your way home, the waiting area outside the park where the bus stops is shaded and has plentiful benches. With the sea breeze, it's probably the most comfortable bus stop in the Lowcountry on a hot summer day. 

Stopover on your way home. The #40 bus runs later than the Beach Shuttle so you can stop over on your way home at Mount Pleasant Town Centre. There's a Lowes, a movie theater, over 13 restaurants and many other shops and businesses. If you shower and change at the beach, you'll be OK to enjoy some time there. 

Not finished until we get to Folly. We still want a bus out to Folly Beach, where parking is now over $20 in their downtown area. Folly is a much tougher place to reach, but we were able to push the Folly Road bus further out to Sol Legare road at the Harris Teeter where it's an easy bike ride out to folly or a challenging walk, side walked all the way. Almost  there. We were also able to get frequency of service on the Folly Road bus increased. Bus ride to end of the Folly Road Bus line on Google Maps

The late Mary Smith appearing as Sylphide, our Transit Fairy

Nothing is Easy and even a Free Bus Isn't Free- It took seven long, hard years of grassroots advocacy aimed at both the East Cooper area and Folly Beach to get this shuttle running and we've put a lot of work into getting people to ride. All you need to do to make that effort worthwhile is to ride the shuttle and bring your friends. Several members of the team which fought to get the bus back out to the beach did not live to ride it. Julia Hamilton and Mary Smith (Our transit fairy) included. The struggle for better transit in the Lowcountry has been a long, hard one but we have progress to be proud of. There are hundreds of new shelters standing or planned for our exisiting bus lines. Service has been increase on the Northbridge and Dorchester Road routes. Ridership, though still below what it was before the pandemic is building. The LCRT, though reduced in scope, slowly advances towards construction and CARTA has stuck to it's guns in the controversy over the fairgrounds. There is a massive, now funded project to build affordable housing and walkable communties along and near Rivers Ave. Every inch of this progress was fought for and six of our core advocates have already taken their last ride. 

We hope when you crest across the dunes at IOP and you feel the cool, fresh breeze of the ocean that you will remember our departed friends. You can do that by scratching our symbol, taken from the Best Friend of Charleston into the sand, awaiting the return of the ocean to wipe it away. If you are there on a lucky day, you might be able to dig up some of our pirate treasure. 

Support our Work, More Information - To support the work of Best Friends of Lowcountry Transit you can contribute on Act Blue. For information or assistance contact William Hamilton at wjhamilton29464@gmail.com or 843-870-5299.

Charleston, SC Brewery District Trolley, Fun, Free and Full

Charleston Brewery District Trolley, Fun, Free and Full

Stopped at Revelry Brewing

Charleston Brewery District Trolley is a free, fun addition to uptown Charleston’s diverse mobility menu used by locals and visitors that continues to grow towards success since returning to operation a year ago.

I rode the Trolley (actually a streetcar style bus) on September 24, 2022 as part of an afternoon which connected me with events across the city using the Brewery Trolley and #20 CARTA Bus Route. Both are free.

I reached Charleston on the CARTA #40 Mt. Pleasant Bus which arrived on time and tracked perfectly on the Transit App. Downtown I dismounted at the first stop on Meeting St., Just North of Huger and walked South and West around the corner to Palmetto Brewing on Huger. The Brewery District Trolley arrived five minutes earlier than expected because I had consulted an old schedule found online. A stop has been added and pushed pickup times on half the route forward five minutes.  Several outdated versions of the schedule persist online.  The current, correct schedule as of Sept. 24, 2022 can be found as an image in this blog.

The Brewery District Trolley picked up about ten passengers at Palmetto Brewing and dropped several off. It headed around the corner to Baker & Brewer for another busy stop.

Passengers included adults and children. There was a goody basket of treats by the door where people boarded. A poll of riders taken after a large group boarded at Edmund’s Oast Brewing Co. showed 20% of the passengers were from Charleston. 30% from other parts of the Lowcountry. 20% from other parts of SC and 30% from out of state, including on this occasion Alaska and Massachusetts. Everyone was in good spirits and friendly. There were two family events at the Brewereys that day and all these businesses serve food, so the presence of children wasn’t surprising. The kids were loving the bus.

Trolley Schedule as of Sept. 25, 2022

For someone trying to reach the Brewery Trolley on CARTA Transit, the stop at Baker and Brewer and the Stop at Palmetto Brewing are the closest to stops on the #10 Rivers Ave. and #40 Mt. Pleasant CARTA bus routes. Covered shelters with seating can be found on Meeting with a walk of less than a block required to make the connection.

For those using the free #20 Upper King CARTA bus to reach the Brewery District Trolley from downtown, the Visitors Center and the hotel district, the best places to connect are at Palmetto Brewery on Huger, a half block walk from the #20 Bus on King Street.  You can also connect to the #20 at stops on the North part of that route including Stop ID: 460 at Rutledge Ave / Courtland Ave a half block (320 feet SSE) from Brew Lab or the stop with seating and a shelter a block further South in front of Rutledge Cab Company. Both of these stops are easy, fully sidewalked walk to Brew lab (for reasons I don’t understand, Google shows a walk under I 26 and Back, but it’s a very short walk directly down Rutledge to both stops).

I rode the Brewery Trolley around most of its route visiting Tradesman Brewing, Lofi, Munkle Brewing, and Fatty's Beer works. I arrived at the Conservation organization’s event at Brewlab Charleston. During this short 40 Minutes on Board about 60 passengers rode the bus. The driver said they often have many more.

Most passengers are on board the trolley for only a few stops. They appear to dismount when the brewery the bus arrives at appears welcoming and active. Those breweries which appeared deserted did not draw visitors off the bus.  

Boarding over 25 passengers at Btewlab

After visiting the event at Brew lab, I checked the Transit App and found the #20 was approaching in 12 minutes. I walked down to Rutledge Ave. to wait at the covered stop in front of Rutledge Cab Company. I could have had a shorter walk and waited at the stop at Rutledge and Cortland. The #20 took me down into the City to my stop near Queen Street, in the middle of the Tourist District.

On Saturdays in Charleston, SC, the Brewery District Trolley provides a great option for people who want to enjoy this newer part of the city and the varied options for food, drink and community activity found there now. It’s already popular and successful and sure to continue to be ever more so with locals and visitors. It benefits from the far less congested streets and roads it operates on and was keeping its schedule without a problem. There are good opportunities to connect to local transit, though it doesn’t go far enough South to connect to the free DASH bus system. It does however connect well to the #20 Upper King bus which is also free. It’s a great way to explore a new part of Charleston and the many events happening there on Saturday.

Brewing Up More Impact

Conservation Event at Brewlab Charleston

It would be great if there were a way to track the bus as it moves and signs for where the stops are located which note the stop time.

More awareness about how to reach the Brewery Trolly from the main tourism district on the #20 bus would benefit both transit services.  Event publicity for the many events at these businesses should mention the Brewery Trolley to attract more visitors and relieve their parking struggle. There is already a lot of community activity along this route, but its potential for large scale multi site events like Oktoberfest or a Holiday Festival is huge. We hope this blogpost will help.

We think the driver should have a cheerful trolley bell to ring at stops and a cool hat to wear. We had a great driver and her cheerful, positive attitude lit up the bus. 

If you are running a brewery on this Trolley route, it’s important to understand that the impression you make on a person sitting inside the bus is absolutely connected to making your money on Saturday. A welcoming presence of activity empties the bus. A deserted parking lot without color or seating leaves these fun seeking passengers unmoved. The big group which boarded at Edmond’s Oast emptied out when they saw the lively scene at Brew Lab. If I was running a brewery, I would send a smiling staff member out to wave and welcome the trolley, perhaps with a little tray of tiny snacks on toothpicks.

 Support us and Contact Us

• You can support our continuing efforts for better transit by making a contribution online on Act Blue
• You can reach us by emailing executive director William Hamilton at wjhamilton29464@gmail.com or by calling 843-870-5299.